Toy vehicles such as toy cars which engage and move about toy race tracks are well known in the art. Many such toy vehicle sets with cars and tracks have been produced for kids and adults alike in the last century. Such toy vehicle sets generally use some sort of electrical or mechanical acceleration means to provide power to the toy vehicle on the roadway forming the racetrack to allow them to circumnavigate the track and to allow kids and adults alike to race their respective vehicles. One type, generally known for years as “slot cars”, uses a multiple rail system imbedded in the track which is electrified to communicate electrical power to motors mounted in toy cars which are also engaged in a slot on the track which keeps the cars in registered engagement with the power provided by the energized rails. Slot cars are generally used by older children and adults due to the presence of electricity and the need to engage the track set with AC power to run transformers which deliver power to the energized rails.
The other popular type of toy car race set employs cars which have no onboard motor or engine and move about the track and have no slot to engage the toy cars with the track but instead use a track with side rails to keep the cars on the track so long as they are not over accelerated. Such toy cars generally use inertia of the cars themselves for propulsion around the finite confines of the track. This inertial force is conventionally generated by some type of frictionally or other car engaging device which momentarily engages with the toy car, thereby propelling the toy car down the track. Such propulsion devices include rubber bands, compressed air, gravity, springs engaging push rails, and rotating wheels which frictionally engage the sides of the vehicles moving about the assembled track.
Many roadways forming such racetracks for toy vehicles feature multiple elevations and intersections where the roadway forming the track crosses over itself. Such intersections are used in many configurations of the racetrack to conserve on space or to make the track more challenging. The classic “figure eight” style track is an excellent example where the toy vehicles race around a track in the shape of the numeral eight, crossing paths at a center point.
In recent years, it has become ever more popular for users to play with more stimulating race tracks featuring different types of obstacles for the racers. Such tracks include crash simulating tracks which also feature race tracks which include jumps, loops, and other perils which the toy vehicles must traverse during the course of travel. Players of such toy vehicle race sets are continually seeking tracks with challenges to their driving skills. However, tracks with figure eight crossovers typically cannot be changed to avoid collisions at the interception if desired. Further, elevational crossovers cannot be used to provide for intersecting paths for the vehicles to simulate a crash. Consequently, toy vehicle racers must either have a plurality of race tracks set up to provide the simulation desired, or, continually change the assembled parts of the forming of the racetrack and intersections to accomplish their desired configuration. Such changes are time consuming and require the user to buy a plurality of different parts to assemble the intersections and jumps which increases cost and also decreases play time when adapting from one track configuration to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,216 (Ostendorff) teaches a crash simulating play set with a jump where upon landing the toy vehicle making the jump crashes into stationary toy vehicles. However, Ostendorff as taught is not adaptable for race tracks since the crashed vehicle hits stationary vehicles at an intersection.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,967 (Halford) teaches a toy vehicle set having a single intersection and four different approaches from independent accelerators. Halford is also not adaptable for racetrack type simulations since the toy vehicles are unable to circumnavigate a track but only proceed from a start to the intersection and there is no return to the start. Neither may Halford be adjusted at the point of the intersection to avoid a crash if such is desired by the participants.
U.S. Pat. No. 45,205,554 (Copson) discloses a race track for toy vehicles which promotes collisions at a plurality of intersections of the roadway forming the track. However, Copson provides no jumps to traverse nor does it provide any means to adjust the intersections to avoid collisions if such a racetrack is desired by the participants.
As such, there exists a need for a toy car race track intersection that will provide a crossover intersection for assembled racetrack courses and provides a jump that may be traversed by the vehicles at the intersection in one of two paths. Such a device would provide the jump between the sections of roadway forming the interception. Such a device should provide for such a jump and intersection which is adjustable for elevation to encourage collisions by crossing vehicles or avoid them totally by providing paths on separate elevations. Such an intersection device should be easily adjustable from the collision setting to the crossover setting without the need to dissemble the race track pieces.